Raffaello Santi

Artist

Raffaello Santi

Artist

Biography Information

Raffaello was born on April 6, 1483 in Urbino, Italy and he spent most of his life in Peruguia which is located in Peruguia. He was an apprentice to Perugine and when he was 17 he became a master painter. some of the paintings he made between 1500 and 1504 where the Madonna del Granduca and La Belle Jardiniére. These where his most notable paintings that he made. Some of his patrons were Florentine Merchants patrons at this time were Florentine Merchants

This is one of Rafaello's most famous pieces of. This piece was commissioned in 1511 by Sigismondo de' Conti to be put on the high altar of the S. Maria church. The Madonna of Foligno can be found in the Vatican Pinacoteca. In this altar piece there are a lot of bright colors and the way the artist set the picture up is so realistic in terms of people. There are five people looking up at a lady and a baby. An interesting thing about this picture is the person who commissioned it was in the picture. Sigismondo de' Conti is on the bottom right of the picture kneeling in prayer to the Virgin who is holding the child. St. Jerome is wearing cardinal vestments presenting himself to the Virgin and the child. The man dressed in animal skins on the left is St. John the Baptist indicating heavenly vision. The last man kneeling is St. Francis. Lastly there is an angel standing in the middle holding a plaque with nothing written on it. The Madonna of Foligno was put on the altar but later it was passed in 1565 to the church of S. Anna at the monastery of the Contesse in Foligno. After that it was transferred again, in 1797 to France and 19 years later it was transferred yet again to the place it sits today in the Vatican Pinacoteca. Rafaello's Madonna of Foligno is a perfect example of humanism because the people in the picture are focusing on two people.